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Cosmetic Spoon in the Form of a Swimming Girl

Third Intermediate Period–Kushite Period
ca. 1080–664 BCE
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 122
Made of faience with bright turquoise glaze, this cosmetic container has a handle in the form of a naked girl holding a rectangular basin in her outstretched arms. Naked except for her black wig, the girl is thought, based on two-dimensional representations that show such figures in a marshy setting, to be swimming. In other examples, the girl can hold a waterfowl, a marsh plant, or a cartouche, and such spoons have been interpreted as ritual objects that can be read as rebuses associated with goddesses such as Nut and Hathor.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Cosmetic Spoon in the Form of a Swimming Girl
  • Period: Third Intermediate Period–Kushite Period
  • Dynasty: Dynasty 21–25
  • Date: ca. 1080–664 BCE
  • Geography: From Egypt
  • Medium: Faience
  • Dimensions: L. 15.7 × W. 4.4 × H. 3.8 cm (6 3/16 × 1 3/4 × 1 1/2 in.)
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1944
  • Object Number: 44.4.14
  • Curatorial Department: Egyptian Art

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